Alternative school
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An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional.[1][2] Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, while others are more ad hoc assemblies of teachers and students dissatisfied with some aspect of mainstream or traditional education.
Some schools are based on
Features
There are many models of alternative schools but the features of promising[clarification needed] alternative programs seem to converge more or less on the following characteristics:
- the approach is more individualized;
- integration of children of different socio-economic status and mixed abilities;
- experiential learning which is applicable to life outside school;
- integrated approach to various disciplines;
- instructional staff is certified in their academic field and are creative;
- low student-teacher ratios;
- collective ownership of the institute as teachers, students, support staff, administrators, parents all are involved in decision making;
- an array of non-traditional
United Kingdom
In the
United States
In the United States, there has been tremendous growth in the number of alternative schools in operation since the 1970s, when relatively few existed.
Another common element of alternative schools in the United States has been the use of community resource professionals in various disciplines who serve as instructors on a part-time, volunteer basis.
Canada
In Canada, local school boards choose whether or not they wish to have alternative schools and how they are operated. The alternative schools may include multi-age groupings, integrated curriculum or holistic learning, parental involvement, and descriptive reports rather than grades. Some school systems provide alternative education streams within the state schools.[14]
In Canada, schools for children who are having difficulty in a traditional secondary school setting are known as alternate schools.[15]
Germany
Germany has over 200
Full public funding is given to
South Korea
In South Korea, alternative schools serve three big groups of youth. The first group is students who could not succeed in formative Korean education. Many of these schools serve students who dropped out during their earlier school years, either voluntarily or by disciplinary action. The second group is young immigrants. As the population of immigrants from Southeast Asia and North Korea is increasing, several educators started to see the necessity of the adaptive education, specially designed for these young immigrants. Because South Korea has been a monoethnic society throughout its history, there is not enough system and awareness to protect these students from bullying, social isolation, or academic failure. For instance, the drop-out rate for North Korean immigrant students is ten times higher than that of students from South Korean students because their major challenge is initially to adapt to South Korean society, not to get a higher test score. The other group is students who choose an alternative education because of its philosophy. Korean education, as in many other Asian countries, is based on testing and memorizing. Some students and parents believe this kind of education cannot nurture a student thoroughly and choose to go to an alternative school, that suggests a different way to learn for students. These schools usually stress the importance of interaction between other people and nature over written test results.
The major struggle in alternative schools in South Korea are recognition, lack of financial support, and quality gap between alternative schools. Although South Korean public's recognition to alternative education has deliberately changed, the progressive education still is not widely accepted. To enter a college, regular education is often preferred because of the nation's rigid educational taste on test result and record. For the same reason, South Korean government is not actively supporting alternative schools financially.
Hence, many alternative schools are at risk of bankruptcy, especially the schools that do not or cannot collect tuition from their students. Most Southeast Asian and North Korean immigrant families are financially in need, so they need assist from government's welfare system for their everyday life. It is clear that affording private education is a mere fantasy for these families. That phenomenon, at last, causes a gap among alternative schools themselves. Some schools are richly supported by upper-class parents and provide variety of in-school and after-school programs, and others rarely have resource to build few academic and extracurricular programs as such.
India
India has a long history of alternative schools.
Alternative Education Programs
Alternative education programs are ideal for people who think college education is not a requirement for becoming successful entrepreneurs. These programs educate neophyte and experienced entrepreneurs while providing them with the necessary resources. An article published at Forbes.com last February 11, 2018 mentioned that many educational institutions contribute to their respective accelerator courses.[18] The University of Missouri System initiated the Ameren Accelerator which concentrates on energy startups and assists entrepreneurs in obtaining essential know-how about the industry from educator-partners at the university level.[19] There are international programs that also offer related resources like Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Ghana, Africa. It has an incubator program providing seed capital, training, and learning opportunities in a rigorous one-year program from outstanding students in the African region.[20]
The Huffington Post cited options in alternative learning like Home School, Micro Schooling, and Unschooling.[21] The concept of Unschooling means the student learns according to the way that person wants for specific reasons and choice. The individual gets help from teachers, parents, books, or formal classes but makes the final decision on how to proceed and according to his or her preferred schedule.[22] Micro-schools or independent free schools differ in approach, size, and authority. These are contemporary one-room schools, full-time or part-time facilities, or learning centers that are owned and managed by teachers or parents.[23] Some parents choose this non-traditional system over formal education because it teaches youngsters to look for practical solutions. The USA is attempting to serve an increasing number of a good number of at-risk students outside the conventional highs schools. There are Alternative Education Campuses that cater to dropouts or those who have been expelled from their schools. There are reportedly more than 4,000 AECs all over the country.[24]
See also
- List of democratic schools
- Anarchistic free school
- Continuation high school
- Democratic school
- Gifted education
- Montessori school
- Public alternative school
- Reform school
- Special education
- Sudbury school
- Unschooling
- Virtual school
- Waldorf school
- Jiddu Krishnamurti Schools
References
- ^ Definition of alternative school Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 9, 2007. Archived 2009-10-31.
- ^ Definition of alternative school, accessed August 9, 2007.
- ^ Aron, L. (2009). Making Schools Different: Alternative Schooling in the USA. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
- ^ Vittachi, Sarojini., & Raghavan, Neeraja. (2007). Alternative Schooling in India. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
- ISBN 978-0-19-921207-1
- ^ "Alternative school set to reopen", . BBC News. 23 March 2009.
- ^ "List View - Schools & Start Ups". www.democraticeducation.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
- ^ We’ll Fund Montessori And Steiner Schools, Say Tories Archived 2020-04-14 at the Wayback Machine Daily Express July 9, 2009
- ^ Alternative Schools Adapt, by Fannie Weinstein. The New York Times, June 8, 1986, section A page 14.
- ISBN 9781576074404.
- ^ ISBN 0-87367-765-X.
- ^ a b Goodnough, Abby (September 10, 1995). "Schools: A Teaching Experiment From the 1970's May Hold Lessons for the Future". The New York Times. p. 13 (Section NJ).
- ^ Broad, Lyn (1977). Alternative Schools: Why, What, Where & How Much. Education USA special report. National School Public Relations Association. p. 87.
- ^ "Alternative". www.ocdsb.ca. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
- ^ "Alternate Program". www.ocdsb.ca. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
- ^ Agrawal, A.K. (2005). Development of Educational System in India New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd.
- ^ Vittachi, Sarojini., & Raghavan, Neeraja. (2007).Alternative Schooling in India.New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
- ^ Arruda, William. "Why Aspiring Entrepreneurs Should Put Their Education First". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ "Ameren Accelerator". www.umsl.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ "The Training Program | Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology". MEST Africa. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ Butch, Taylor (2016-07-08). "As the World Unfolds: A Secret Look Inside Alternative Learning". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ "Unschooling or Homeschooling". www.mhea.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ Ark, Tom Vander (2015-08-05). "Open a Micro-School: Here's How". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ "It's Time to Study Alternative Schools | Center on Reinventing Public Education". www.crpe.org. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
Further reading
- Claire V. Corn, Alternative American Schools: Ideals in Action (Ithaca: SUNY Press, 1991).